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2010-09-30 - Reunion
Its late in the day, the sun has just begun to set. The lights in Chinatown will be lit soon, but for now the late afternoon light is enough. Its been colder today, but the heat of the Humble Tiger's kitchen has kept Will from feeling any physical discomfort. His emotions are another matter. He's been unable to get the image of the green-eyed woman from his mind ever since he met Elila. Something about her had latched onto his brain, and just wouldn't let go. Not only that, but the owners have been strangely on-edge all day. Everyone has been on edge, and Will even moreso. He just wished he knew what was going on around him. Terra was settling back into the seat, but now she leans forward. She's had a bit of a longer than usual day, having stayed after school...mostly just to hang out. Although she's a geek and, for that matter, more intelligent than most of those around her, she enjoys simple human company. "For some reason, I'm not feeling Italian," she suggests to her father, green eyes regarding the area outside the car thoughtfully. Sometimes, using teleportation or Astral Travel is just overdoing it. At least, society seems to feel that way, and so, generally out of a desire to allow Terra some normalcy in her life, William had obtained a car for the evening -- a modified 1969 Corvette Stingray, which had always been a favorite of his. The drive has been quiet since he picked Terra up, but as she speaks, he quirks an eyebrow and, with a tiny mental nudge, adjusts the vehicle's GPS navigation console to prepare for a redirect. "What would you prefer?" he asks, casual but curious. In the Humble Tiger, the last of the after-school crowds have finally left, and things are dying down. One of the waiters has left for the day, and Will has been asked to watch for new customers while the other waiter takes a break. He's cleaning a few tables when they come in, a group of men in suits who enter the restaraunt as though they own it. Bossily, one steps forward and orders Will to get the owners. He does so obidiently, despite his escalating emotions. Though he's never seen or met a member of the Triad, these people feel to him exactly as those he spent most of his life living with, and panic is starting to bubble up to the surface. "I have this peculiar hunch that we should try Chinese tonight." She's not sure what's *causing* this vague sense that she...should be in Chinatown right now, although her mind reaches outwards, seeking. Maybe somebody's trying to reach her and failing...again. There's a brief silence from William, as he too probes the mental space around them, seeking some clue as to Terra's sudden change of appetite. He senses her reaching, unable to detect anything -- but in the end, that she's reaching so intently is enough for him. Clearly, there's something to it. So, he changes direction, heading for Chinatown and, via the advent of clairsentience, evades heavy traffic along the way. The owners of the Humble Tiger, it turns out, have a relative who owes the Triad a large sum. And having been unable to find the individuals, men have been sent here to either collect payment or discover where the person in question is. Though the owners had heard this was likely to happen, they protest, insist they know nothing and refuse to pay. This does not go over well. The self-proclaimed leader grabs the husband by the lapels, and discussions on how to 'force' information out of him are beginning when Will's emotions peak. Backing into a corner, he begins calling out psychically, unaware even that he is doing so. «STOP! Stop please, don't hurt them!» His mind calls out, and his powers respond, electricity beginning to crackle around his hands, causing the lights to flicker ominously. A cry that might not have any particular target, other than those trying to harm people Will happens to like. There is absolutely no way the green eyed girl could fail to hear it. Her eyes widen. "We need to be in Chinatown. Now!" She knows that mental voice, yet...it's not possible...but she also knows that she didn't hallucinate it. That he's in danger. That... "I...father..." Incredulous. The car may not be fast enough. "I heard," William replies tersely. He's not sure who the psychic in distress is yet, but he does know distress when he feelds it. "Hang on." Then, the car is surrounded by a ripple and a crackle of midnight-hued energies, slipping momentarily into the Astral Plane. An instant later, it's pulling up in front of the Humble Tiger, knocking over a small sidewalk display placard in the process. The doors swing open as if on their own, and William hardly pauses to remove the key from the ignition before exiting the car. Inside, things are getting pretty strange for the Triad members. The two goons, odered to take the Owner's wife if he doesn't stop cooperating, are looking warily at the lights, and wondering if an earthquake is coming. Their leader, oblivious, is barking orders at them and shaking the owner, while his wife pray fervently in Mandarin to a variety of gods. Will is still huddled in the corner, images of his past overlapping the one before him, while more electricity flows from him, feeding into the outlets nearby and causing some of the lightbulbs to blow. «Not again not again not again, don't take them away!» Teleportation is not one of Terra's tricks...but she is out of the car fast enough that one might wonder. "I *know* that voice." And then she's reaching out. « They won't. Don't worry. We're almost here. » As if he should know exactly who she is, because she is SURE of who he is, sure and certain despite all possibilities, despite all rationality. And she's NOT stopping. A part of William's mind silently reflects on Terra's announcement that she knows the mental voice they hear. Part is concerned with what they may find, with what the consequences of the situation are. These are small, compartmentalized areas of thought, however. The majority of William's mind is focused on surveying the situation inside, so that as he and Terra burst simultaneously through the front doors, he sends out a thunderous yet somehow chilly telepathic announcement, directed at the strange aggressors: «Cease this childish display at once. You have five seconds to vacate this place. If you do not, you choose to suffer at my hands.» Well, he always did have quite a melodramatic streak. Will is stunned by the voices in his mind. Besides the strange vision-like moments, he cannot remember anyone having spoken directly into his mind before. But the strangeness is nothing to the feelings invoked by the voices themselves. He -knows- these voices. In his shock, he releases the elctricity, the last of which fizzes through another lightbulb. The lights that are still working flare back to life as he stares at the two figures, not entirely sure if he should believe what he thinks he is seeing. Meanwhile, the two goons hightail it for the back exit, while the last releases the owner to stare at William, hands held to his ears as though that could keep the voices out of his own mind. Meanwhile, Terra has just moved inside next to her father. « I think they listened. » She glances at the owners, then her eyes are drawn to the young man. Drawn as if his electricity was a magnet and held there. They widen, but she can't seem to look away from him, she can't seem to do anything but *stand* there for a moment. William is, for the moment, still operating tactically. So, the teenager is left to Terra to deal with. William himself advances, focusing on the single man who didn't flee, and begins to send an empathic projection of fear -- abject terror, preferably. "You will leave this place," he says out loud, "or I will find you. When you close your eyes to sleep, you will see only me, know only pain. Tell your employers that if they return here, Oscuros will find them." By now, William has fully projected a psychic image of a vague, black-armored form with a deeply resonant voice, seeking to implant it in the man's mind and attach it to that same sense of fear that he's projecting. The remaining Triad member nearly falls to his kees, so much jelly have his legs become from that speech. He manages to scramble out after his 'friends', babbling semi-coherent apologies to the 'demon' and vowing to never return. Ever. The owner stares at William, flabbergasted, while his wife starts bowing repeatedly, offering him her thanks and anything else she has to offer, stopping just short of offering her only daughter to him in marriage. Will, meanwhile, is still staring. He is realizing now that these are not images from his faded memories, but that they are real. And though they are different from his memories, the man much harder and the young woman so much older, he cannot help the tiny surge of hope, or the word that first escapes him, "T-terra?" Terra Black takes one step forward...then she comes as close as she ever does to running, and Will will have to move pretty quickly to avoid being *hugged*. Yeah, this is one telepath who doesn't shy from physical contact. "It's really you?" He's...alive? But...but he's there, and as her conviction that he was dead fades away to what her heart has told her all along... Well, prying these two away from each other might be hard. Only as the threat is fully removed does William allow himself to turn his attention to Terra and... Will. The poor restaurant owner and his wife are utterly forgotten in that moment, as William steps toward them, then stops. For a moment, he boils with a surge of emotions too intense to pick apart. He goes visibly pale. Then, like an iron portcullis, something slams shut within him, and he draws himself back together. He turns to the woman, now. "I believe," he says softly and evenly, "we will require a table... and some hot tea." No one may notice the hand at his side, nearly forgotten, that's still clenched into a white-knuckled fist. Will jumps, as he is effectively 'glomped'. For a second he goes rigid, before reaching awkwardly up to hold his twin. He can't even remember the last time he was hugged. Nor does he have any idea how to answer her question. "You are... " Slowly, he looks up from the girl to William, whom the Owners have pulled a chair out for before dissapearing into the kitchen to make the requested tea, "You are alive?" Terra Black releases Will slowly, but only so she can move to the table. "I thought...we thought...we really thought you were dead, Will." She glances at her father, who is, as usual, refusing to show any emotion in public. Locked down. She knows him well enough to know he's in turmoil. "It's good to see you alive and healthy, Will," says the elder William Black. His tone is still neutral, but he's tried to soften it a bit. "We... I... gave up hope of that many years ago." A beat, then, "I apologize... for that." This said, he stands there, half aware of the proffered chair and seeming, at least to Terra's perceptions, rather at a loss for what to do. "N-no! It is alight... " Will's eyes widen at the apology, and he looks down at his shoes. At first he remains locked in place, much like William. But when he realizes that Terra has moved, he starts to shift slowly toward her, hesitant but at the same time afraid to loose contact again. "They... they said you were dead." And again, without meaning to, his psychic voice adds what he is unable to say « I am sorry. I tried to not believe them. » Terra Black closes her eyes. "I turned off the voice that said you weren't. I'm...sorry." Harder for her. Surely, she should have known her brother...her twin...lived. There's part of her, healer or no, that would very much like to seriously put some hurt on them. For a time, William continues to stand there in silence. He watches the others, flinches inwardly at the tone of Will's mental message. And that's the spark, all that it takes to ignite the tempest within him. Terra may notice the faint ripple in his emotional control as he contains his rapidly mounting anger, but it's nearly impossible to see. Still, as he speaks, his voice might be just a bit /too/ neutral. "Who are they?" he asks, not looking at either of his children. "Who, and where?" Will shakes his head at Terra's apology, unable to say much to reassure her. He just steps a bit closer to her. He shakes his head at William's question. Though the neutrality of his tone is not something Will is yet familiar with, the questions are difficult ones. "Y-yakuza." He replies quietly, "But they did not... I do not know where. I believe... somewhere in Kansai, perhaps." Looking quite miserable, he lowers his head even more, "I am sorry, father." Terra Black reads her father's anger. "We'll find them. How did you get out?" They must have been...well, she does not want to think about what. If he has any physical scars, she can make them go away. Mental ones...those are harder. Deeper. Fleck of midnight blue energy begin to drift across the otherwise dark centers of William's eyes, as he begins to literally look at the Astral energies surrounding Will. "There is no need to apologize, Will. Using that information and tracking your Astral signature... I believe I will be able to find them. /Oscuros/ will find them. And then... they will be repaid for all they have done." Even with his control, it's not terribly hard to read the purpose -- very likely quite deadly -- behind the words. The repayment he has in mind will most assuredly come with pain as its currency. Though slightly confused by some of the things his father speaks of, Will does not doubt the certainty of his voice. Nor the purpose his father seems to have in mind, which almost frightens Will. He nods, rubbing the back of his head self-conciously and keeping his own gaze on the floor as he then tries to answer Terra's question. With difficulty, he blocks the less 'pleasant' aspects of the memory. "It seems I can transform myself, physically, into energy. The elecrical currents carried me... " He frowns, "Three blocks from here." Terra Black glances at her father for a moment. "You arrived three blocks from here?" Normally, the gentle Terra would be the voice of reason, telling her father to calm down and not go on a rampage. Right now? She's going to let him rampage. Meaning...yeah. She's pissed. William does not rampage. Instead, he sits down and gestures to the other chairs at the table, offering a gentle if bland and slightly forced smile. "Why don't you sit and tell us about it, Will." Revenge will come, undoubtedly, but his anger will keep. For now, there are more pressing matters, and in any case, he will need time to locate Will's former captors. Once he's certain, then he will act decisively and, quite probably, with calculated, ruthless brutality. "Yes." Will responds, both to Terra's question and William's request. Taking a chair beside his sister, and only looking a little uncomfortable at sitting in a place he's only worked in so far, he swallows nervously. "It was strange, at first. It had been so long since... since I'd heard English. I met Bai, the other waiter. He offered me a meal." He glances up, but the rwaite working tonight has yet to return from his break. "And when... the owners heard I could cook, they offered me a job." Will had better watch it: Terra is not the world's best cook. She'll be making him cook. "I'm guessing they didn't predict you teleporting out. Well, not teleporting." Her father would likely know the correct technical term. "You arrived two weeks ago." Not a question. "Psychokinetic transubstantiation," William supplies quietly. "Your mind is somehow able to directly convert the molecules of your body into electrical energy." A beat, and he manages a somewhat warmer smile. "Fascinating. I have never been capable of such a feat. Direct manipulation of matter and electromagnetic energy has always eluded me. Kinetic energy is another matter, but..." he trails off as it occurs to him that this may not be the time for a treatise on psychokinetic phenomena. Will looks up, nodding to Terra. "Yes. Two weeks and two days, exactly." He does not looks surprised by her knowledge, merely accepting. He manages a hesitant smile, mirroring in his way the one he sees on his father's face. "It was... quite strange." He'd say more, or try to, but the owners reappear then, bringing tea and a tray loaded with food, despite it having not been requested. The best feast they can offer has been prepared, and payment is absolutely and utterly refused. And so ensues the Black family reunion, a moment of relief and joy in lives with more than their share of loss and sorrow. What will follow may not be easily divined, even for a family of psychics, but some certainties are clear on the horizon: William Black II has come home; Terra Black has found her brother and the answer to her mysterious dreams at long last; and William Black the elder will allow himself no rest until he has located the people who took his wife and son from him and visited upon them such dire vengeance as his mind can possibly conceive. For now, though, perhaps these three can simply enjoy a good night. End scene. Category:Logs